Mike Nowatzki, Forum News Service

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BISMARCK – Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says a lawsuit brought by the North Dakota Farm Bureau seeking to overturn the state’s anti-corporate farming law is so vague that the state can’t properly respond to it, but a lawyer for the plaintiffs says the complaint is specific. The lawsuit filed June 2 in U.S. District Court in Bismarck claims the law passed by North Dakota voters in 1932 is unconstitutional and hurts farmers by limiting their ability to attract investment and secure financing and lowering the value of their farms.

BISMARCK – Sponsors of an initiative aimed at legalizing marijuana in North Dakota failed to gather enough signatures by Monday’s deadline to put the proposed measure on the Nov. 8 ballot, a sponsor said. Backers needed to submit at least 13,452 signatures to the secretary of state’s office.

BISMARCK—The race for North Dakota's highest elected office could be settled Tuesday as a hard-fought and increasingly bitter race between two Republican candidates for governor reaches its conclusion in the deeply red state. Voters also will decide on a ballot measure seeking to overturn legislation passed last year that would relax a 1932 law to allow non-family corporations to own dairy and swine operations.

BISMARCK—Two Republicans campaigning to become the party's nominee for governor in November disagreed about the relevance of a study released Wednesday that ranks North Dakota's financial health as higher than all but three other states. The study completed for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranked each state's financial well-being based on 2014 data for short- and long-term debt and other key obligations such as unfunded pensions and healthcare benefits.

BISMARCK—Between the $100,000 contributions from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and eBay director Robert Kagle, a key sector of North Dakota's economy is noticeably absent from Fargo businessman Doug Burgum's campaign finance statements. Disclosures filed last week show no discernable contributions to Burgum from the state's energy sector, led by its robust oil and coal industries, since he jumped into the governor's race in mid-January.

BISMARCK—North Dakota teachers will rewrite the state's math and English standards in the coming months to replace the politically charged Common Core standards and set "clear and high expectations for all students," Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler said Tuesday. Public schools have used the current standards, developed in 2008 and based on Common Core, for the past three to six years.

BISMARCK — For the first time since 2002, North Dakota's governor will ask state agencies to propose smaller budgets for the next biennium as uncertainty looms over how soon the oil and farm sectors that drive the state's economy and tax revenues will rebound. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who is not seeking a second four-year term in office in November, will deliver the budget guidelines at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Capitol's Brynhild Haugland Room.

BISMARCK -- North Dakota's lowered expectations for tax revenues proved to be not low enough for the third month in a row in March, leaving the state more than $20 million short of its revised forecast and boosting the likelihood of additional budget cuts or further drawing down reserves. The $98.8 million collected in March was $13.8 million, or 12 percent, less than projected in the revised revenue forecast released Feb. 1, which adjusted for a sharp decline in tax revenues blamed on the slumping oil and agriculture sectors.

BISMARCK—Abortion opponents suffered a blow Wednesday when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new label expanding the authorized use of a drug used in medication abortions, making the option cheaper and accessible to "many more women," a lawyer for North Dakota's sole abortion provider said.

BISMARCK—As Democratic state Sen. Joan Heckaman prepares to announce her run for lieutenant governor Wednesday in Grand Forks, the three Republicans seeking their party's endorsement for governor have yet to choose running mates. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has a "short list of attractive candidates" he's considering, campaign manager Nate Martindale said, politely declining to disclose any names. Two names that have been mentioned often as potential running mates for Stenehjem are Sen. Tom Campbell of Grafton and Sen. Nicole Poolman of Bismarck.